A Bit of Digging

Just having a break from digging over a couple of beds.  Not really the right time of year for it, being a bit too warm now!  Still can't complain after all that rotten weather.  

Last year I had 3 beds of dahlias but quite a few didn't make it through the winter, so the ones that are ok were dug up and moved into one bed leaving the other ones free for some brassicas.  The wretched bindweed needs digging out first though and the poppies clearing once all the petals have fallen off.  Also need to get rid of a few hollyhocks that have strayed inside the fence, but the roots are so tough hubby will have to chop them out with a mattock!

The wild area is my favourite place to sit at the moment.  It's just at that lovely time when everything is looking lush and blowsy, before it starts going to seed and turning into hay.  It's full of insects and birds and I could happily spend ages just watching them and trying to identify all the flora and fauna! I think that's called procrastination though, must get back to the digging :(

xxx

Garden Snippets

It's poppy time again and these beauties are doing their stuff all over the veg plot!  I did sprinkle some new seeds around in the spring, but they don't seem to have come up.  These pink and red pom-pom ones come up every year and I'm sure they're even bigger than normal.  Maybe due to the rain.

The honeysuckle over the arches is wafting it's perfume round the garden when the sun comes out!

My veggies seem later than many other gardeners and everything is on the small side but I've started picking the mangetout at last.  

The French beans have really struggled to grow at all.  There are some flowers appearing on the dwarf ones but the plants are small and sickly looking. The climbing ones haven't really got going, unlike the runners that are doing well.  I'm sure it's the first time in my 20 odd years of growing veg that it's been like this.

The courgettes are ok, though one plant was broken off in the storm a few days ago!

Only about a quarter of the sweetcorn germinated, even after a second sowing, so I just planted out what I had and filled the rest of the bed with some cosmos and sunflowers.  The squashes in the background are doing well, with some golf ball sized ones already.

Finally, some lovely clematis and roses, "The Pilgrim" I think. I'm not a fan of bright yellow flowers, but this soft creamy yellow is so pretty and seems to go with everything else.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post and hello to my new followers.

Hope you have a good weekend

xxx

Cath K Inspired Crochet

As promised,  here's a peek of my latest project.

I played around with dozens of ideas and finally settled on a simple 2 colour hexagon that's got a sort of retro feel and I think will look great with the Cath K bedding I love.  I was going to do basic trebles but tried out tr and dtr clusters and think they look prettier.

The pattern is in one of my favourite books, worth getting if you want some inspiration (also called "Crocheted Throws and Wraps")  I've added an extra round of 3tr, 1ch (2ch in the corners) as I'm going to join them on the back and think it will be neater with less chain round the edge.

The colours are mostly ones from my stash apart from the green. I didn't have anything like that minty shade but found some Adriafil Regina in light green (40) that fits the bill.

the other colours are:

Rowan Pure Wool DK;  Frost (44) and Geranium (47)

Debbie Bliss Rialto;  Buttermilk (31) and Baby Pink (42)

Artesano Superwash Merino DK;  Baby Pink (43)

Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool DK;  Alabaster (03)

The hardest part was leaving out all the other colours I love.  I usually don't have a plan and just keep adding more shades, but picking out the colours in a favourite blanket, picture or piece of china is a fun way of doing it too!

Should keep me busy for a while :)

Soggy Garden

Sorry I've been a bit absent recently for no particular reason other than the miserable weather.  Last weekend was spent in front of the TV watching the jubilee celebrations and since then it's felt so wintry that curling up on the sofa with some crochet or a book has been about all I've done!  If it brightens up any time soon I'll try to take some pictures of my latest blanket-to-be.  In the meantime here's some of the garden this evening, complete with raindrops!

In the greenhouse, the brassicas have all germinated but everything else has just stopped growing Not surprising when the temperature is about 12 degrees!

In the odd sunny spell I noticed the wild area looking lovely now all the ox-eye daisies are out and the bees keeping busy, especially on the philadelphus which smells gorgeous.

Here's hoping it brightens up soon!

xxx